After all of us are reborn, who plays Go?

Like China's New Sports magazine, Japan's Go Club magazine also held a reader prediction poll, but the results of Japan's predictions were surprisingly consistent with those of China.

No, it cannot be said to be the same. The percentages are completely different, and the gap is even huge.

Among the thousands of voters in "Go Club", only eight believed that China could win, and among these eight people, seven were Chinese students.

From a certain perspective, these seven people did not actually believe that China could win, but they did so out of simple national sentiment.

I just don’t know who cast the last vote?

The Japanese people's expectation of a 100% victory was turned into 99.9%.

However, this minor flaw can only serve to demonstrate the humble spirit of Japanese Go.

It can be said that Japanese Go players and fans are all very optimistic about the outcome of this competition.

In addition to organizing readers to predict the outcome, the Go magazine also devotes a large amount of space to introducing the relevant information of the challenge matches and invites Go experts to look forward to the prospects.

Ma Chao, a famous chess critic who has recently become famous for his criticism of Fuji Iso Hideaki, even said that in this China-Japan competition, Japan only needs three people to defeat China's eight people, and there is no chance of failure!
Japan's optimism is not blind. A realistic analysis shows that the breadth of Go popularization, the depth of Go theory research, and the actual level in Japan are all higher than those in China.

Not to mention this time's exchange between China and Japan, Japan's top players have demonstrated their unparalleled dominance, and their gorgeous performance has given everyone a shot in the arm!

“Everyone is very confident.”

Koichi Sakamoto, director of the Japan Shogi Association, said with a smile.

The dean nodded. This result was within his expectations, but this competition was too important.

Although Japanese Go has been the Go kingdom for many years and has attracted many players from foreign countries, it has always been a domestic competition. This is the first time that it has encountered such a contest between countries.

To some extent, this is the first Go competition between China and Japan, which is completely different from the nature of previous exchanges. Even the whole world is watching this game, so it is definitely not easy to lose.

Not to mention that President Sekimoto's company CEN held this competition in order to increase its popularity in China. This kind of advertising competition only has one chance and is rarely held a second time.

What if we lose? We can't beg them to advertise again, right?

That would really be embarrassing in front of all the financial sponsors in Japan.

The problem now is that the Japanese chess players seem to be too confident and a little arrogant, which makes Hasegawa, the president of the Japan Chess Association, feel a little uneasy.

Because in this exchange, it seems that China suffered a major defeat against Japanese Go.

But in a little-known place, excluding the top-notch players, China's winning rate against Japanese 9th-dan players reached 41%, which is a record high.

Hasegawa also had to sigh that Chinese Go had indeed grown to a level that could not be underestimated without him realizing it.

But at least for now, China cannot defeat Japan!
"Sakamoto, have you arranged the personnel?"

"Please rest assured, Dean. With this lineup, China has no chance of winning.

We have eight players on the field, with Kashima Torajiro, 5th dan, who just won the Rookie of the Year award, as the vanguard. Behind him are Kobayashi, 8th dan, who has maintained the highest win rate among players above 7th dan for three consecutive years, Iwasaki Taki, 9th dan, Kei Igarashi, the Gosei, and Ishida Shotaro, 9th dan, who has a very high win rate against China.

In fact, relying on these people, China actually has no chance of winning, but in addition we have stronger top-notch players. "

"Mitsuba Kenichi who remains undefeated against Chinese players! Toya Masao, who has won 18 Japanese tournament titles and is known as the star of evil, and Fujii Hideaki, who has won the title of Japanese Go Saint for six consecutive years, are the head coaches."

“In fact, I don’t think the three generals at the back can play. They are more of an insurance policy.

The symbolic significance of this match is greater than its practical significance, especially for Fujii Hideaki, who needs this match to help him wash away his stain. "Although Japan has not ruled out its strongest lineup, it can even pull out two or three more teams with similar lineups.

But Koichi Sakamoto didn't think anything would happen.

After all, he couldn't figure out how China could put together a team to match his own, unless he could conjure up a living person out of thin air.

This sharp "butch scissor" forged by these eight masters is now ready to be used, just waiting to slaughter the "chicken" of China.

On the other side, Chen Long looked at the eight people he called into the office and couldn't help but sigh.

It was only after the performance in this exchange competition, and after careful consideration, that China selected eight contestants.

Except for two who were exempted from selection, the other six were all selected through trials. All of them are chess players with outstanding recent performance and excellent form.

Before returning, Chen Long had already obtained the Japanese team's roster for this tournament.

The Japanese Go Association did not hide the secret at all, fearing that China would have targeted tactics if the information was exposed, but it announced it directly in its own magazine.

But it is actually useless for China to get the list, and there is no way to make any targeted adjustments.

China is struggling with Japan over who to choose, and even has to take their competition situations into consideration so as not to let the Sino-Japanese competition affect domestic competitions. In essence, China has no choice.

There are only a few dozen active chess players, and the number of strong ones who can make it to the top can be counted on one's fingers.

Li Yiran 6th dan, Zheng Chengyan 7th dan, Zhang Wenyu 7th dan, Cao Xuan 8th dan, Wei Yang 8th dan, Wu Yuanmin 9th dan, Fang Yuan 9th dan, Zhan Lang 9th dan.

This is the complete list of Chinese players participating in this tournament.

Even if any of the eight people have a problem, it will be difficult to find a replacement.

"I think everyone knows why I called you all here today. In one month, the China-Japan Go Tournament will officially begin.

I won’t say much else. This is a national war that concerns our Chinese Go community.

In fact, I don’t set too high goals for everyone. In fact, we can see that the gap between us and the Japanese Go community remains and will exist for a long time.

But in this competition, we must always show some results.

This time we have only one goal, to defeat Japan's top-notch team.

As long as we can defeat Japan's first top-notch player, Kenichi Mitsuba, we will win!

If we can still defeat Toya Masao and invite the Japanese main general Fujii Hideaki to play, it will be a great victory!

If we can defeat Fujii Hideaki, it will be a historic breakthrough for us!"

Hearing this, the other people sitting in the office didn't have anything to say.

After all, in their view, this is just the art of leadership speech. The first part might sound interesting, but the second part is purely theoretical.

Chen Long looked at the silent crowd, and fixed his gaze on Zhan Lang and Fang Yuan who were sitting in the first seats on his left and right. He fell into a state of confusion and contemplation.

(End of this chapter)